The IGA Mall proved to be a suitable venue to hold the Expo this year. Existing members stopped to pick up a program, make an early bird registration and to pay their annual subs.

Our sign and displays attracted the attention of potential new members who accepted copies of the program and joining forms to mull over and consider before committing to join one or more of our activities.

All in all a worthwhile way to spend a Thursday.

Friday 29th January is the AGM and registrations will be accepted.

An additional registration day will be held on Monday 1st February in the Strathalbyn Library.

Most activities will be getting underway in February and with a few new activities on offer as well as many carrying on from last year there is plenty of choice and no excuse to be bored or inactive.

Don Hopgood will be presenting his series of talks titled “The Titans of History” over four consecutive Thursday afternoons – July 23rd & 30th and August 6th & 13th.

The Angas Room at the Strathalbyn Library, Coleman Tce Strathalbyn will be the venue and the talks will commence at 2pm. Refreshments will be served and members and their friends as well as interested members of the public are welcome to attend.

The RECORDER group is now up and playing. They meet fortnightly, 1st and 3rd Thursdays, 4.00pm at the Anglican Church Hall on East Tce.

Alex Stone is running the group and additional information will appear soon on our Program Information page. There may be room for additional members.

The Social Film Club will start meeting on the 4th Wednesday at 1.30pm commencing in March. Initially they will meet in the Bremer Room of the Strath Library but it is hoped that a suitable private home will be found. There are vacancies for additional members.

2015 has started with a bang as we enrolled 22 new members at our recent Expo and Registration days.

Some of the activities are full and we are running waiting lists with the hope that additional groups may be formed.

Some groups have commenced meeting already while others will kick off further into the month.

The Committee has three new members whose experience and knowledge will be invaluable as we plan for the future.

The President and Secretary are taking advantage of a Governance Course being run by the Alexandrina Council to brush up on meeting skills and the important details required when managing an organisation.

U3A is a mystery acronym to many. When expanded to “University of the third age” the initial response is “but I have no tertiary qualifications!” Not a problem. The only academic requirement is experience from the University of Life which most retirees have in abundance.

U3A is a global organisation which aims to provide educational, physical and creative stimulus to retirees at a nominal administrative cost. All services are given voluntarily.

The original meaning of the word UNIVERSITY is a community of people who come together to learn from one another and U3A draws on the skills, interests and experiences of members willing to share their knowledge.

The THIRD AGE is the age of active retirement, a time to participate in all the activities put off during the busy working and family rearing years.

The STRATHALBYN EXPO in shop 7 on Dawson Street, Thursday 29th January, 9.30 – 4pm will have displays featuring our activities and members of the committee will be present to provide information and to take membership applications and course registrations.